What I Remember | An Old Timer's Opinion

What I Remember…

I remember hardware stores. Where could get a free bag of popcorn and buy a handful of nails for 25¢.

I remember the original recycling program. Where you could bring a soda bottle back to the store for 5¢.

I remember paper bags at the grocery store. They were made from trees that were replanted and the bag decomposed.

I remember full service gas stations. Where they filled the tank, washed the windows, checked the tires and water in the radiator.

I remember “gas wars” between multiple gas stations to compete for the lowest price per gallon.

I remember when gas was 19¢ a gallon.

I remember Ethyl gasoline.

I remember when you went to the gas station they gave you S&H Green Stamps and a free glass with a fill up.

I remember the roll cloth towel in the gas station bathrooms.

I remember 10¢ ice cream cones.

I remember 10¢ boxes of popcorn at Sears.

I remember 15¢ hamburgers.

I remember eating a burger at the lunch counter of Woolworths.

I remember playing in the street and one of us would yell “car” to protect all of us.

I remember playing in the dirt with metal toy trucks.

I remember metal toys.

I remember going to the doctor and seeing a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket.

I remember rotary telephones.

I remember “party lines” where everybody on the line heard your conversation.

I remember enclosed phone booths.

I remember using a dime to make a phone call in a phone booth.

I remember making a telephone call to a friends house and an adult always answered the phone.

I remember “long distance” phone calls and people would raise their voices while they were on the phone.

I remember when stores were closed on Sundays.

I remember when you could talk to people and not be limited to short phrases.

I remember being able to buy spray paint off the shelf and not a locked cage and having to show your id.

I remember taking photographs and having to wait a week to have the film developed.

I remember taking film to the Fotomat booth in the shopping center parking lot.

I remember “Instant Photography” was using a Polaroid camera and waving the photo and counting before you could peel the cover of the photo to see the image.

I remember the “Transistor Radio,” portable with AM only.

I remember buying spray paint as a kid so I could paint my bike and wagon.

I remember going to the Drive-In to watch a movie.

I remember movie double-features at the drive-in and indoor movie theater.

I remember bench seats in cars.

I remember steering column stick shifts.

I remember manual steering and brakes.

I remember when the radio and heater were options in cars and trucks.

I remember when seat belts were options in cars and trucks.

I remember metal dashes in cars and trucks.

I remember sleeping in the back of the station wagon as the family drove home from an outing.

I remember fixing cars in the high school parking lot.

More to be added as time goes on…

An Old Timer's Opinion

An Old Timer's Opinion

Remembering Old Times